War Poems | Poemist

Popular War Poems

Boots

by Rudyard Kipling

INFANTRY COLUMNS

We're foot--slog--slog--slog--sloggin' over Africa --
Foot--foot--foot--foot--sloggin' over Africa --
(Boots--boots--boots--boots--movin' up an' down again!)
There's no discharge in the war!

Seven--six--eleven--five--nine-an'-tw enty mile to-day --
Four--eleven--seventeen--thirty-two the day before --
(Boots--boots--boots--boots--movin' up an' down again!)

......

Marmion: Canto 6 (Excerpt)

by Sir Walter Scott

Next morn the Baron climb'd the tower,
To view afar the Scottish power,
Encamp'd on Flodden edge:
The white pavilions made a show,
Like remnants of the winter snow,
Along the dusky ridge.
Long Marmion look'd:--at length his eye
Unusual movement might descry
Amid the shifting lines:
The Scottish host drawn out appears,

......

The Sycamores

by John Greenleaf Whittier

In the outskirts of the village
On the river's winding shores
Stand the Occidental plane-trees,
Stand the ancient sycamores.

One long century hath been numbered,
And another half-way told
Since the rustic Irish gleeman
Broke for them the virgin mould.

......

Narva And Mored

by Thomas Chatterton

Recite the loves of Narva and Mored
The priest of Chalma's triple idol said.
High from the ground the youthful warriors sprung,
Loud on the concave shell the lances rung:
In all the mystic mazes of the dance,
The youths of Banny's burning sands advance,
Whilst the soft virgin panting looks behind,
And rides upon the pinions of the wind;
Ascends the mountain's brow, and measures round
The steepy cliffs of Chalma's sacred ground,

......

Epistle To Dr. Arbuthnot

by Alexander Pope

Shut, shut the door, good John! fatigu'd, I said,
Tie up the knocker, say I'm sick, I'm dead.
The dog-star rages! nay 'tis past a doubt,
All Bedlam, or Parnassus, is let out:
Fire in each eye, and papers in each hand,
They rave, recite, and madden round the land.

What walls can guard me, or what shades can hide?
They pierce my thickets, through my grot they glide;
By land, by water, they renew the charge;

......

Recent War Poems

Three thousand years of pain

by Dr. Robert Ippaso

Three thousand years of pain
One hundred and fifty generations,
Can we define this as insane
A cauldron full of grief and trepidation.

No one deserves this sorry fate
Enslaved and dispossessed,
Wondering the world as human freight
Herded and processed.

......

Three thousand years of pain

by Dr. Robert Ippaso

Mother's Night (in Ukrainian)/Материна ніч

by Halyna Myroslava

груди ночі прорізує зірка
(вона не єдина
та інших не помічаєш
не найбільша
це не має значення)
пульсує
усіма зі своїх чотирьох рамен
вивергаючи навиворіт камери серця
на всі чотири сторони світу
а ти

......

Children of Gaza

by Ghairo Daniels

Black pupils of our e y e s
melting into every soldier booted
ears of mountain gazelle A L E R T
to Palestinian mole rats

Rats scatter into open s e w a g e s
our mountain hide-outs faraway
soldiers BANG on backdoors
pupils of our eyes dilate B A T T L E

......

Wereld in vlammen

by Mario Odekerken

De lucht kleurt blauw van rook,
namen verdwijnen onder puin.
Een kind zoekt brood,
vindt een gescheurde foto.

Leiders spreken in donder,
maar de aarde luistert
alleen naar huilen.

Er is geen vrede en stilte

......